Looking Forward to More

Well, after two weeks without a working computer, I'm finally back! (Thanks Larry!)

Most exciting news of all - MORGAN IS OUT OF THE HOUSE! He finally got on his feet and has actually been surfing and swimming in the ocean. So pumped for him!

New Year's Eve down here was wild. We ended up going to a place called the Black Sheep Pub. This is a traditional Irish Pub (totally legit too) that is in the middle of Nowhere, Costa Rica. Apparently this older guy moved here from Ireland (I assume) with his wife and turned their house into a big bar! There was live music, two separate bars, a dance floor and a pool! I literally felt like we walked out of Costa Rica and into a different country. They launched an amazing firework show right at midnight. It was an awesome way to start the new year!

We found a new waterfall hike called Mala Noche. My boss Darin told me that a local theory for the name "Mala Noche" is because the waterfall is supposed to cure you of a hangover. So if you had a bad night, then you can go jump in Mala Noche. BOOM, Spanish lesson! 

The water is super low so it wasn't a raging waterfall, but it was still deep enough to jump in. Reagan and Reya (the new puppy) got to come along and had the best time. It reminded Matty and I of Little Hawaii in Telluride but much warmer and more inviting. We found a bunch of 4-5 ft. deep pools the swim around in. We also found a couple of leeches on Matty's legs from sliding down the rocks...sick! Still, a place we will be visiting more than once. 

We took Reagan to the vet for the first time down here. She was starting to get lethargic, and for those of you who know my dog... she is NEVER tired. There is a really gnarly tick disease that is prominent in Guanacaste (our region) that almost 95% of the dogs get - being tired and lazy are some of the symptoms. Turns out, she is in perfect condition. She's just: 1. Tired from the humidity and 2. Finally growing up a little bit :) Just for safety reasons, I got her a vaccination that "poisons" her blood and kills the ticks...they've been jumping ship ever since! Just to be extra-super-safe, we also got a blood test to make sure she was all healthy, a de-worming pill, and a bag of dogs treats. You'll never guess what all of that cost.... $40.... gotta love Tico prices!!

We returned to the bat cave! This time I actually went in... all the way! You have to walk along the coral path to get there. The water was about knee height and super choppy. As your approaching the cave, you can hear the piercing whistle-like sound. Immediately following that, you can smell them. It is one of the worst smells, the kind that makes you want to stop inhaling. The worst part is that I watched Matty and Morgan go in first and got to witness the bats diving down at their heads...definitely turned me off of the idea for a minute. Nonetheless, I womaned up and went all the way in (yes there are pictures to prove it). There were hundreds and hundreds of them and they were not happy with us coming in their cave. Definitely a wild experience. A couple days after the cave adventure, we were told that the Ticos will NOT go anywhere near the cave...apparently it's cursed... OOPS. 

My birthday was definitely a day to remember :) In the morning we got up early and went to a local breakfast place called Rosie's Soda. I had, hands down, the most amazing banana pancakes I have EVER had. Tico pancakes are a little different than American pancakes. They are much thicker and sweeter - not artificially sweet though, they're made with the rawwwwww sugar! 

After our breakfast mission, we grabbed the perro and headed down to Pelada for a beach day. This day on the beach was the best I've had yet. We took Reagan's tennis ball and a stick and set up a mini baseball game. One person would pitch, one would hit and one would stand in the ocean and run after the ball. After a couple of hits, we realized that Reagan was the best outfielder out of the four of us! This game of "baseball" somehow ended up turing into a human version of "fetch". Morgan ended pitching the ball to himself and Matty, Reagan and myself would race as hard as we could into the ocean to get to the ball first. Having four legs is truly an advantage to any race. She beat us almost every time. When we got back from the beach, I called up my little sister on FaceTime and was surprised by her entire host family singing me Happy Birthday in Basque! So cool. 

Later that night we had a sunset fire on the beach. Our friends, Jonny & Nicole, Butler & Cara, and Jeff & Erin all came down for the fire. After that we met up with my friends from work at our house. We ended up listening to music, drinking and eating pizza :) Later in the night, Matty surprised me with a piñata! We all took a turn trying to destroy that snowman but it was the unbreakable piñata. I ended up busting it open to find Oreos, lighters, balloon, noise makers and Chiklets! Kudos to Matty for the stuffing of the piñata. It was an awesome birthday :)

Other exciting things that have happened in the last two weeks: I started Insta-graming! Pretty exciting stuff...follow me @1kmall. Matty has now killed 13 scorpions...wait, make that 14. Matty has become quite the surfer dude - he's been surfing almost everyday for the past week. I realized after one wave that I am NOT a fan of the surfing... although I did promise Matty I would try again. I got a flat tire on our motorcycle - $5 fix! We had to get the transmission on our motorcycle fixed - 2 hour/$20 fix. I started volunteering at the Animal Shelter - this will hopefully cure my puppy fever. Lastly, Morgan's family arrived yesterday! I'm so happy to get to spend time with them. I really didn't realize how far away I am from home. This is the first Christmas/New Year's/Birthday I haven't spent with my family. I got really sad when thinking about it, but honestly, how am I supposed to move on without these first-time experiences? These are the first of many, hopefully! Cheers to trying new things with a smile :)

Until next time…